Editing Jesus Prayer (section)

==Practice==
[[File:Eastern-Orthodox-prayer-rope 2006-06-02.jpg|thumb|Eastern Christian [[prayer rope]]]]
[[File:Rublev's saviour.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Christ the Redeemer (icon)|Christ the Redeemer]] by [[Andrei Rublev]] ({{circa|1410}}, [[Tretyakov Gallery]], [[Moscow]])]]

===Techniques===
There are no fixed rules for those who pray, "the way there is no mechanical, physical or mental technique which can force God to show his presence" ([[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] [[Kallistos Ware]]).<ref name="kallistos-ware" />

In ''[[The Way of a Pilgrim]]'', the pilgrim advises, "as you draw your breath in, say, or imagine yourself saying, 'Lord Jesus Christ,' and as you breathe again, 'have mercy on me.{{'"}}<ref name="wayofpilgrim">{{cite book |last1=French |first1=R. M. |url=http://desertfathers.webs.com/thewayofthepilgrim.htm |title=The Way of a Pilgrim |editor-last=French |editor-first=R. M. |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |year=1930 |access-date=2016-02-05 |archive-date=2016-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160712040411/http://desertfathers.webs.com/thewayofthepilgrim.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Jesus Prayer can be used for a kind of "psychological" self-analysis. According to the ''Way of the Pilgrim'' account and Mount Athos practitioners of the Jesus Prayer,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailygreece.com/2008/03/post_246.php |script-title=el:Οι τρόποι της ευχής |work=Daily Greece |date=1999-02-22 |access-date=2010-07-03}}</ref> "one can have some insight on his or her current psychological situation by observing the intonation of the words of the prayer, as they are recited. Which word is stressed most. This self-analysis could reveal to the praying person things about their inner state and feelings, maybe not yet realised, of their unconsciousness."<ref name="byethost1">{{cite web|url=http://prayercraft.byethost8.com/JesusPrayer.htm |title=On the Jesus Prayer |publisher=Prayercraft |date=2004-11-27 |access-date=2010-07-03}}</ref>{{unreliable source|reason=self published, no authorship information|date=January 2025}}

Also, a person might want to consciously stress one of the words of the prayer in particular when one wants to express a conscious feeling of situation. So in times of need stressing the 'have mercy' part can be more comforting or more appropriate. In times of failures, the 'a sinner' part, etc.{{sentence fragment|date=January 2025}}<ref name="byethost1"/>

===Levels of the prayer===
[[Image:StJohnClimacus.jpg|thumb|upright|Icon of ''[[The Ladder of Divine Ascent]]'' (the steps toward theosis as described by [[John Climacus]]) showing monks ascending (and falling from) the ladder to Jesus]]
[[Paul Nicolaevich Evdokimov|Paul Evdokimov]], a 20th-century [[Russia]]n [[philosopher]] and theologian, writes<ref>[[Paul Evdokimov]], {{lang|ro|Rugăciunea în Biserica de Răsărit}} (''Prayer in the Church of the East'') {{in lang|ro}}, translation from [[French language|French]], Polirom Ed., [[Bucharest]], 1996, pp. 29–31, {{ISBN|973-9248-15-2}}.</ref> about beginner's way of praying: initially, the prayer is excited because the man is emotive and a flow of psychic contents is expressed. In his view this condition comes, for the modern men, from the separation of the mind from the heart: "The prattle spreads the soul, while the silence is drawing it together." Old fathers condemned elaborate phraseologies, for one word was enough for the publican, and one word saved the thief on the cross. They only uttered Jesus' name by which they were contemplating God. For Evdokimov the acting faith denies any formalism which quickly installs in the external prayer or in the life duties; he quotes [[Seraphim of Sarov]]: "The prayer is not thorough if the man is self-conscious and he is aware he's praying."

"Because prayer is a living reality, a deeply personal encounter with the living God, it is not to be confined to any given classification or rigid analysis", says the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]].<ref name="goarch-jp" /> As general guidelines for the practitioner, different number of levels (3, 7 or 9) in the practice of the prayer are distinguished by Orthodox fathers. They are to be seen as being purely informative, because the practice of the Prayer of the Heart is learned under personal spiritual guidance in Eastern Orthodoxy which emphasizes the perils of temptations when it is done on one's own. Thus, [[Theophan the Recluse]], a 19th-century [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian]] spiritual writer, talks about three stages:<ref name="goarch-jp" />
# The oral prayer (the prayer of the lips) is a simple recitation, still external to the practitioner.
# The focused prayer, when "the mind is focused upon the words" of the prayer, "speaking them as if they were our own".
# The prayer of the heart itself, when the prayer is no longer something we do but who we are.

Once this is achieved the Jesus Prayer is said to become "self-active" ({{lang|el|αυτενεργούμενη}}). It is repeated automatically and unconsciously by the mind, becoming an internal habit like a (beneficial) [[earworm]]. Body, through the uttering of the prayer, mind, through the mental repetition of the prayer, are thus unified with "the heart" (spirit) and the prayer becomes constant, ceaselessly "playing" in the background of the mind, like a background music, without hindering the normal everyday activities of the person.<ref name="byethost1"/>

Others, like Father [[Archimandrite]] Ilie Cleopa, one of the most representative spiritual fathers of contemporary [[Romanian Orthodox Church|Romanian Orthodox]] monastic spirituality, talk about nine levels. They are the same path to [[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|theosis]], more slenderly differentiated:<ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://biserica.org/WhosWho/DTR/I/IlieCleopa.html Ilie Cleopa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916043316/http://biserica.org/WhosWho/DTR/I/IlieCleopa.html |date=2011-09-16 }} in {{lang|ro|Dicţionarul teologilor români}} (''Dictionary of Romanian Theologians''), electronic version, Univers Enciclopedic Ed., Bucharest, 1996.</ref>
# The prayer of the lips.
# The prayer of the mouth.
# The prayer of the tongue.
# The prayer of the voice.
# The prayer of the mind.
# The prayer of the heart.
# The active prayer.
# The all-seeing prayer.
# The contemplative prayer.